“Unite liberality with a just frugality; always reserve something for the hand of charity; and never let your door be closed to the voice of suffering humanity.”
Frugality should be my middle name, but my first and last name are already tooooo long, so I’m going to skip that. As you may know, I enjoy finding bargains at the grocery store, thrift stores, etc. so, here’s my tip for today, and I’ve said it a million times, but it’s a good reminder.
SHOP THE SALES, FOLKS!!! There are so many good deals out there if you just look for them. Groceries are so crazy expensive nowadays. Plan your meals accordingly.
You see all these groceries? $16.72. My total savings with coupons, etc was $24.32. I saved more than I spent. I had four full bags of groceries. Most folks spend more than that on one piece of meat at the butcher, or just one bag of groceries. Who says we have to eat so much expensive meat anyway? My adult sons are both vegetarians. They keep working on me, but I need an occasional burger or chicken fried chicken. 🤦♀️ I also share my bargains with friends. The thrill is in the savings, and sharing is even more satisfying.
I made soup with the chicken sale from last week, used 2 bags of the frozen veggies and a box of the pasta, and a can of the broth. I made enough to eat for a few days and freeze 3 containers and share some. I froze some of the bananas to put in smoothies and I’ve been eating an apple every day. You know what the doctors says…”An apple a day…” oh, that’s right, doctors probably don’t like that quote, as they’d be out of business. 🤦♀️
All this orange juice, milk and fresh ginger (for my tea) was only $6.17. I saved $8.50. The ginger wasn’t on sale, never is, but I splurged and spent $1.22 on ginger. I gave away some of the OJ. “Sharing is caring.”Here are a few items that will be on sale tomorrow. The store apps always have a preview the day before. I like to check that out to plan my week. Well, I don’t need any more milk, but those Fruity Dinobites look interesting. Hmm? I have no idea what those are. Maybe something to share with the little kiddos at Holy Family preschool. I hadn’t eaten breakfast or lunch that day, so I treated myself to a 6 piece chicken nugget Happy Meal. Guess how much? FREE! I used my accrued McDonald’s points for a free meal. I like to collect the toys for the grandkids. Plus, the smaller size is just about right. Call me crazy. I know, I am.
For more exciting money saving tips, call me up and we can meet for lunch at McDonald’s for a Happy Meal. 🤗
“I know there are only Ten Commandments, but I think the 11th should be never waste anything.”
~Toni Armenta Andrukaitis
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Many of my talented frugal artist friends will agree that we don’t waste anything. Also, we are not really hoarders, but we are saving possible art ideas for a crazy rainy day art project In the future. Just because I press leaves, save…egg cartons and egg shells, empty brownie boxes, wine bottles, dried flowers, scrap paper, brown bags, plastic bottles, feathers, toilet tissue tube rolls, and the ever popular dryer lint, this doesn’t mean I’m a hoarder. It’s all labeled and organized and waiting for a possible project. Remember last month, my senior artist friends made lovely 3-D paintings with grocery bag trees and left over tissue paper leaves. Awesome!
Another pet peeve of mine is wasting paint. If I’m working on a project, if there’s a little paint left, I paint a few notecards or book marks or glassware.
So, last week, when I was painting my glass bowl for Jerry’s birthday, I had quite a bit of red, orange, and yellow paint left on my paper palette. Not enough to scoop back into the bottle. Oh yes, that paper is recycled mail or old print outs. I didn’t want to waste the glass paint, as it’s more expensive than acrylic. I grabbed a glass ivy bowl in my stash of unpainted glass in my “crap room.” I have had many friends donate old glass items to me because they know they will be turned into a work of art and find a good home.
As you can see, I use an old foam egg carton lid for my makeshift stay wet palette, a little square of moistened paper towel, then a square of recycled paper. Then, I pour my paint on it. I used the left over paint from the paper palette and mushed it around and around the bowl until it was nicely covered and blended.I loved the fiery look of the blended colors. Now, to decide what to paint on top. My easiest go-to motif is a simple one-stroke leaf. It was already after 2 am, so I wanted something quick and simple so I could go to sleep.
Here’s a little video of how to paint the easy vine and leaves.
” A watched pot never boils, yet an unwatched pot burns your dinner to a nasty crazy crisp.” (Ask me how I know.)
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Here’s my tip for the day… when you sauté an entire huge red onion, do not, and I repeat, do not step away from the stove to get on your iPad to delete your old nonessential and annoying photos.
I have an older iPad that had been sitting in a drawer for a couple of years. I charged that baby up and was looking through some old photos, well over 10,000. I think that’s why I bought a new one. It was too full. I know, you’re going to ask, why don’t you upload them on your laptop? Well, I tried that. My old laptop is just as quirky and obsolete as I am.
Anyway, back to the watched pot. I put the diced onions in a covered frying pan to sauté on low while I started to delete old photos. Well, I got carried away. I had so many old quotes, redundant sunsets, dozens of meals, cupcakes, people I didn’t even recognize, and on the top of my list was deleting old photos of the old dogs and the old husband. (That felt pretty good.)
About two thousand deleted photos later, I was on a roll when smelled something burning. Yikes! I totally forgot about the onions. I was engrossed in deleting my old life.
The good news is, I had another onion. So, I cleaned up that mess and started again. This time…NO stepping away from the stove. Then, I diced up four or five left over boiled potatoes, and topped with some Monterey Jack cheese. I warmed up some flour tortillas, added a little Bernard’s Gourmet Foods salsa, and voila. The perfect homemade veggie burritos. Yum?
Sometimes you have to burn a few burritos and burn a few bridges. Well worth it.
“For every minute spent organizing, an hour is earned.”
~Benjamin Franklin
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Here’s my organizing tip of the day… Before you tackle a huge organizing project, make sure you have an unlimited amount of time to commit. Guess what folks, I have an unlimited amount of time on my hands.
I’ve been working on organizing my “crap room” upstairs for a couple of weeks. To be honest, it looks worse than when I started, because I’m literally pulling everything apart and going through every box and bin and bag. Oh yes, I’m also busy admiring every painting, sketch, drawing, photo, and craft while I’m shuffling things around. (Believe me, it’s a lot worse than it looks.)
What I didn’t expect was to spend about an hour just sorting one bin of paint brushes. Did you know that those little throw away foam brushes actually disintegrate after a couple of years? Yes, they do, and they make a big dusty mess.
Remember this mess because this room will be so organized somewhere around Christmas, if I’m really diligent. Maybe not this Christmas, maybe next year.
“For every minute spent organizing, an hour is earned.” If this is true, by the time I’m done, I will have earned about 20 years. Wish me luck.
And for a pleasant surprise at the end of my day, my friend Karen stopped by and left a bouquet of sunflowers on my front porch. Yes, I’m very blessed.
“Don’t let a single sunset slip past you unnoticed. Appreciate each day as if it was your last. You never know?”
~ Toni Armenta Andrukaitis
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It was just a gorgeous warm sunny day today. This afternoon, after my daily meditations, I sat out in the back. my face bathing in the sun. Something about morning meditation makes you all calm and zen-like, at least for a little while.
A few phone calls and messages later, it was time for a nice long hot shower. I was looking forward to driving over to Miss Pat’s to do a curbside pic-up of food. About once a week, one of the girlfriends makes dinner for “the gang,” and the others add a dessert or side dish. Then, those who live further away, well, we can do curbside pickup. I go and pick up food for me and Jerry. I drop off Jerry’s dinner, then come home for my feast. Today was Taco Tuesday.
Today, Miss Pat outdid herself with homemade taco salad, and there was strawberry short cake and her world famous cookies. I haven’t been eating much dinner lately, but I devoured the whole thing. Except for dessert. That’s for later. Maybe tomorrow.
Thank you Miss Pat!!!
TIP #1- When you make friends, make friends that like to cook and bake.
After I ate, it was time for my walk. Woa! Not so easy to walk on a really full tummy. But, I love my evening walks. It was really cloudy this evening, so there was no spectacular sunset, but that’s OK. I saved my photos from last night. Last night the sunset was SO amazing.
TIP#2 “Don’t let a single sunset slip past you unnoticed. Appreciate each day as if it was your last. You never know?”
See those spectacular colors! Those are the actual colors, no adjustments, apps, or photoshop.
“Always listen to small children. They are the sincerest and wisest people.”
~Toni Armenta Andrukaitis
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Well, Gamma duty is officially over. Mom and Dad got home this afternoon, and I survived without incident. Whew! Oh, my little grand-daughters shared so many hugs and kisses… and their colds, runny noses and sore throats. Well worth the price of admission.
Tip of the day: Here’s what I learned from my little grandchildren. We should all follow this advice. Eat when you’re hungry, sleep when you’re tired, wear exactly what you want every day, and make all your demands clearly known by screaming them out at the top of your lungs until all your demands are met.
More food Gamma, and make it snappy!
Apply makeup like this… you always want to look pretty.
Keep a tidy house. You never know when you’re going to have company.
Life is like a board game. Sometimes you have to be sorry and occasionally some of the pieces are missing. Move on.
“If at first you don’t succeed, look it up on YouTube.”
~Toni Armenta Andrukaitis
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My kitchen was a mess, the dishes were piled in the sink, and I finally talked myself into doing some housework after much procrastination. The dishes, bowls, glasses and pots and pans were all neatly stacked in the dishwasher, all that was left to do was to clean up all that sludgy residue in the sink and scoot it down the garbage disposal. I turned on the water and turned on the disposal and heard…CRUNCHHHHHH. Oops! I turned it off, stuck my hand inside and found half a mutilated plastic fork. Then, I ran the water and turned it on again. Now, it only hummed. I turned it off, and put my hand in there again, trying to wiggle the blades. A few seconds later, the humming stopped and it was totally silent. Oh no! Will I have to call a plumber?
Toni’s Tips for Today
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Tip#1- When you feel guilty about a messy house, just feel guilty and go sit down with a glass of wine and binge watch Downton Abbey or something. A clean house will just get messy again.
Tip#2- Don’t ever put your hand down into a jammed or clogged garbage disposal.
Tip#3- Say a thank you prayer to Saint Joseph, patron saint of home repair, BECAUSE you didn’t observe tip #2 and stuck your hand in the jammed garbage disposal, retrieving half a mutilated plastic fork with all your fingers still in tact.
Tip#4-If at first you don’t succeed, look it up on YouTube.
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I watched the video, looked in the garage in my toolbox for a hex wrench. I found a different tool that didn’t work, so I had to wait till the next morning to go to Lowes to buy the proper tool.
I love hardware stores. So many shiny tools and thing-a-majiggies. When I got home, I rewatched the video again, opened my new jam-buster wrench, got a broom and followed directions. I used the tool and wiggled it back and forth in that slot. The tool started to move, but it still wouldn’t work. Then, I remembered the reset button. VOILA! I un-jammed my disposal all by myself.
I Googled how much it would have cost to call a professional plumber.
How Much Does It Cost to Fix a Garbage Disposal? Most garbage disposals cost about $250 to fix, including labor. This total ranges from $70 to $400. Labor for a plumber run around $80 an hour but varies between professionals.
“When you make as many brownies as I do, it’s nice to share your tips and tricks with other bakers.”
~Toni Armenta Andrukaitis
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To say that I bake a lot of brownies and cupcakes would be an understatement. Sometimes I need to bake the night before an event, and I learned a long time ago the trick about putting some fresh bread inside or along side the baked goods to keep things moist. In a pinch, when I’m out of bread, I’ve used a slice of apple to keep the moisture in. Just keep the container covered. It really works. It also keeps the frosting on cupcakes from getting crusty and hard.
Again! More relentless rain. I drove to Zumba this morning with threatening clouds on the way, then returned home an hour later with black clouds and pelting rain. That was over seven hours ago, and there are no signs of a cease fire. Or should I say cease water?
So, here are my very timely and well tested and Toni approved tips for a rainy day…
1. If it rains all day with no end in sight… take a nap. (You can’t go out and play. Especially if you only had five hours of sleep.)
2. Before you take a nap, drink a tall glass of water so you don’t have to set your alarm in fear of sleeping all day. (Better than an alarm clock. I know.)
3. Disregard tip 2. Because you’ll have to get up to go to the bathroom three or four times and won’t be able to fall asleep. (Ask me how I know?)
4. After the second or third time having to get up to go to the bathroom, grab your favorite stuffed animal or real animal for comfort, then try to fall asleep, despite the pelting rain against the windows. (My son Matt brought this little lion back for me from South Africa when he went for the World Cup. He went with only a backpack, yet brought his momma back a special souvenir gift. I’ll always treasure it.)
5. When all else fails, just get up and have a nice cup of tea, some pecan pie with a big scoop of sea salt caramel ice cream. (I never did fall asleep. Maybe I was just hungry.)
6. Last but not least, put on your raincoat, grab your tools, and get back out into the yard and finish working on the ark. You’re gonna need it. (Don’t forget the animals, two by two. No mosquitos, scorpions or snakes, please.)
My sister is visiting for two and a half weeks, so I wanted to make her feel at home. What better way to feel at home than to do some housework and outdoor chores. She asked if she could help with anything. Who am I to deny her request?
I’m having a new house anniversary celebration in a couple of days, so I wanted to clean the patio and outdoor furniture. I hosed down the concrete floor and metal furniture, then handed her the patio furniture sealer. She polished all the furniture and straightened up the patio while I went for a walk. (She offered.) I’m not afraid to ask for help anymore.
The backyard looks great, doesn’t it?
My tip for the day…If someone offers to help you, take them up on it. That’ll teach ’em.
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Toni Andrukaitis 